Sunday, November 22, 2015

Cutlers Peanut Butter Cookies

This recipe came along in such a funny coincidental way!  I went on a fun girls trip to St. George for Time Out For Women, and my cute friend kept saying how Cutlers Peanut Butter cookies are to die for!  And if you know me, I'm a peanut butter fan! I knew I had to try them!  So we never came across a Cutlers Cookies, but the craziest thing happened!  The next day I woke up to an email from one of my favorite food blogs I follow: Jaime Cooks It Up, and loan behold, it was Cutlers Peanut Butter Cookies!  I about died!  And apparently this recipe comes straight from the source, right off of Cutler Cookies blog!


The great part about these cookies are, that they are not frosted sugar cookies.  It's like a chocolate chip cookie recipe, but using peanut butter chips instead.  And then you first frost with a fabulous peanut butter frosting, and to be honest with you, I could stop right there. Yum.

But alas, the recipe calls for chocolate frosting to top off the peanut butter frosting, and oh boy!  Talk about sweet!  Like, so fulfilling that you really don't even want to go for a 2nd cookie, but not in a bad way, in a very satisfied way!  Yum!

And this sweet princess can vouch to how easy, fun, and yummy these cookies can be!!

Ingredients
COOKIE DOUGH:
1 C butter, softened
1 C brown sugar
1 C white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 C flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 (10 ounce) package Reese's Peanut Butter Chips

PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING:
1/2 C butter, softened
1/2 C creamy peanut butter
3 C powdered sugar
1 Tb milk

CHOCOLATE FROSTING:
1/2 C butter, softened
2.5 C powdered sugar
3 Tb unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 Tb vanilla
1/8 c milk
Instructions
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Into your stand mixer or large mixing bowl place 1 C softened butter, 1 C brown sugar and 1 C white sugar. Cream the mixture on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping the bottom of the bowl to be sure the ingredients are well blended.
3. Add 2 eggs and beat for an additional minute. Add 1 tsp vanilla and mix until combined.
4. In a separate bowl place 3 C flour, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda. Toss the ingredients together with a fork and then add to the creamed mixture.
5. Toss in one package of Reese's Peanut Butter Chips and mix until combined. The original recipe suggests using the name brand only. :)
6. Spray a large cookie sheet and scoop the dough (I used a 1 1/2 inch scoop) onto the sheet.
7. Bake for 7-8 minutes, or until the top of the cookies crack. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the cookies to continue to cook on the pan for 2 minutes. Remove them to a wire rack to cool completely. Be sure not to over bake, gang. You want the cookies to be nice and soft.
8. To make the Peanut Butter Frosting place 1/2 C softened butter and 1/2 C creamy peanut butter into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Mix until smooth and glossy. Add 3 C powdered sugar, 1 Tb milk and a dash of salt. Mix until smooth and creamy. Add more milk if the frosting is too thick.
9. To make the chocolate frosting mix 1/2 C softened butter and 2.5 C powdered sugar together. Add 3 Tb unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/2 Tb vanilla and 1/8 C milk. Mix until smooth. Add more milk if it's too thick, or more powdered sugar if it's too thin.
10. When the cookies have cooled, frost each one with peanut butter frosting.
Spread some chocolate frosting over the peanut butter frosting. Be sure not to cover the peanut butter frosting completely. It's pretty to be able to see the double layer effect.

Friday, November 20, 2015

Apple Butter - Crockpot recipe

Fall is almost over and winter is sneaking upon us fast!  I made this yummy Apple Butter last year and accidentally used double the cinnamon amount and choked my way though it telling myself it was good!  This year I found a great over-nighter recipe, watched my cinnamon measuring like a hawk, and ended up with yummy Apple Butter!  A success!  It's super easy to do as well, which makes it a double bonus!!


All you have to do is skin those apples (optional but I like it that way), put them in the crockpot, add in a few yummy ingredients, turn on the crockpot, go to bed, and WHAM!  You wake up with your house smelling like apple cinnamon heaven!  It's amazing!



Ingredients:

1 dozen apples
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup apple cider (just double your water if you don't have apple cider and add a tad more sweetener like more brown sugar, or a natural sweetener like Stevia)


Peel and slice up your apples, set them in the crockpot.  In a seperate bowl combine the remaining ingredients, pour over apples and rub until evenly coated.  Put the lid on, set on low, and leave over night up to 8-10 hours.  When you wake up to your heavenly smelling house, turn off crockpot and let it cool down slightly.  Then add to your blender and get it nice and smooth.  I put a few jars in my refrigerator and few in my freezer to keep nice and fresh!
Enjoy!